1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a placer mining device and specifically to a sluice box device that is used to separate precious metals and minerals from other materials found in a placer mineral deposit, which may be found on or below the earth's surface.
2. Description of Related Art
A placer deposit is a natural concentration of heavy metals and/or minerals caused by weathering processes and gravity. Precious metals and minerals were deposited or were formed deep in the earth's crust. Seismic or volcanic movement of the crust can bring some of these deposits closer to the surface where weathering make act upon them. Weathering is the flow of wind, water, ice, and/or soil across the earth's surface, which can free these deposits for distribution by the flow of wind, water, ice, and/or soil. Gravity causes a downhill direction of this flow and also causes the heavier minerals in the flow to collect in the certain low areas along the flow path. These collection areas are called placer deposits or placer mineral deposits. There are about a dozen specific types of placer deposits such as: residual, alluvial, eluvial, stream, bench, flood placers, and others. Many sizable placer deposits formed on the earth's surface millions of years ago and are now located below the current surface, under layers of natural sediments and deposits. The heavy minerals or metals deposited in a placer deposit can be very valuable. Examples of such valuable minerals include: diamonds, rubies, sapphires, emeralds, and many others. Examples of such valuable metals include: gold, silver, platinum, palladium, mercury, titanium, uranium, zirconium, and many others.
Placer mining devices use the same principles that created the placer deposits in the first place to help separate the valuable minerals from all other materials in the placer deposit. Placer mining devices introduce all material from the placer deposit into a specially engineered flow of liquid or gas that is essentially a carrier flow used to separate heavier material from lighter material. The specially engineered flow of liquid or gas is typically circulative in a closed loop. The specially engineered flow of liquid or gas causes the lighter materials to rise to the top of the flow and the heavier materials to fall to the bottom of the flow. Placer mining devices have an unobstructed top portion of the flow path and an obstructed or semi-obstructed bottom portion of the flow path. Obstructions act as collection compartments where heavier materials tend to fall into and accumulate therein while lighter material flows through the unobstructed top portion, thereby separating the light and heavy materials. One type of placer mining device is a sluice box. A sluice box utilizes the flow of liquid, usually water, through a box with obstruction ridges on the bottom.
This invention is a special type of sluice box that is portable, flexible, and capable of being rolled up into a compact cylinder of a relatively small size that can be easily carried and transported by one person. The portable sluice box of this invention can be relatively easily transported across mountainous terrain by one person, and without machinery, trucks, tractors, wheelers, or other vehicle, and without roads or trails. There are other portable sluice boxes in the prior art; however, none have the aspects disclosed in this application.